PHYSIOLOGY. 



blue. The nucleoli were enormously swollen and 

 pale, and were surrounded by a number of large, 

 deeply staining granules. Some cells still showed 

 traces of NissFs bodies, either of the original form 

 and size, or swollen and fused together, or evenly 

 and minutely subdivided, but invariably very 

 pale. Many nerve cells appeared to be entirely 

 devoid of chromatic bodies. The nuclear mem- 

 brane was often invisible. In the medulla nearly 

 all the nerve cells showed the more advanced 

 changes noted in the spinal cord. Here many 

 cells were colorless. Some of the Purkinje cells 

 of the cerebellum were but slightly altered ; many 

 contained only a few slender and very pale chro- 

 matic masses, and some were devoid of chromatic 

 bodies. In the cerebral cortex the usual nuclear 

 changes were very prominent and the chromato- 

 lytic changes were advanced, most of the cells 

 failing to show distinct chromatic bodies or net- 

 work. In the posterior spinal ganglia the chro- 

 matic bodies in most of the cells were pale and 

 minutely subdivided, while many were colorless. 

 The nucleoli of these cells were much swollen. 

 In another case only slight lesions were disclosed 

 in the bulbo-spinal cord and cerebrum, and 

 marked changes were found only in the cere- 

 bellum. 



In experiments upon the relative acuteness of 

 the senses of hearing, touch, taste, and smell in 

 the blind and persons of normal vision, Prof. H. 

 Griesbach has found that no remarkable differ- 

 ences exist as to tactile impressions, and such 

 as do exist are in favor of the seeing. No differ- 

 ence was found in the capability of localizing im- 

 pressions of sound. As a rule, in both the see- 

 ing and the blind, the use of both ears gives bet- 

 ter impressions than the use of one alone. No 

 difference in the acuteness of hearing was found, 

 and no relation was observed in either blind or 

 seeing between the acuteness of hearing and the 

 power of localizing sounds. There seemed to be 

 no difference between the two classes in acuteness 

 of smell. The blind become fatigued in the exe- 

 cution of manual labor sooner than do those of 

 equal age who see. They are more fatigued with 

 manual than with mental work, which is not the 

 case with the seeing of the same age. The results 

 were substantially parallel as between the two 

 classes in the experiments on the accuracy or the 

 fallaciousness of determinations of touch. These 

 results are in many respects opposed to generally 

 received opinions, for it is usually supposed that 

 deprivation of sight is accompanied with better 

 development of touch and hearing. 



Two cases of pathological changes in the nerv- 

 ous system accompanying delirium tremens are 

 reported upon by Dr. Ewing, of Columbia Uni- 

 versity. Intense and general capillary conges- 

 tion was found on post-mortem examination in 

 the brains of both subjects. The great " motor " 

 cells of the spinal cord and medulla were exten- 

 sively affected and nowhere normal. The " chro- 

 matic rods " the normal stored-up pabulum of 

 the nerve cell which is used up during functional 

 activity were almost entirely disintegrated and 

 destroyed or absent in those cells. In many other 

 cells this " chromatolysis " was even more ad- 

 v need, and the cell body showed transparent 

 areas (hyaline degeneration). The outlines of 

 many cells were irregular and ragged (erosion of 

 surface) and the nuclei were dislocated from their 

 normal position, sometimes in so marked a man- 

 ner as to project from the side of the cell body. 

 Similar chromatolytic changes of a less extent 

 were found in the* cerebellum (Purkinje's cells). 

 In the hemispheres the cortical pyramids (archyo- 

 chromes) failed to exhibit the usual network or 



striated arrangement of these rods, and those 

 which were present were either feebly colored and 

 indistinct or broken up into coarse <-ranules 



Of the results of experiments as to the' prac- 

 ticability of rendering considerable areas of the 

 body anaesthetic by the action of cocaine in- 

 jected directly into the spinal canal, Dr Bier of 

 Germany, reports that by such employment' of 

 from 5 to 10 milligrammes of cocaine hydro- 

 chlorate he produced anaesthesia of the lower 

 limbs, and was able to perform a numbc* of ordi- 

 narily severe operations painlessly. The only 

 drawbacks resulting from the administration 

 were severe headache, nausea, and vomiting 

 Making some exact experiments to determine 

 more precisely the effects, Dr. Bier and his col- 

 league, Dr. Hildebrand, subjected themselves to 

 the action of the drug injected into the spinal 

 subdural space. It was found that anaesthesia 

 of the whole of the lower extremities supervened 

 in from five to eight minutes after the injection 

 and a dose of 5 milligrammes of the cocaine was 

 sufficient to make this condition of anaesthesia 

 last for about forty-five minutes, after which nor- 

 mal sensibility slowly and gradually \ returned. 

 The after-effects were, however, not always pleas- 

 ant and were like those found in the surgical 

 cases. The authors therefore decided that further 

 experiments should be made on animals, so that 

 the effects might be more fully studied with a, 

 view to obviate the disagreeable effects produced 

 by the drug and to enhance its usefulness. 



Taking advantage of a case in the practice of 

 one of the authors in which there was a constant 

 issue of cerebro-spinal fluid from one of the nos- 

 trils, the properties of that fluid have been 

 studied by Drs. St. Clair Thomson, Leonard Hill, 

 and W. D. Halliburton. The fluid is character- 

 ized by its clear watery character, its low specific 

 gravity, the small quantity of proteid in it, the 

 absence of albumin, and the presence of a sub- 

 stance which reduces Fehling's solution but is. 

 not dextrose. The substance is possibly related 

 to pyrocatechin. The contrast between such a 

 fluid and the mucin-containing fluid of ordinary 

 nasal hydrorrhcea is very marked. Analysis of 

 the fluid that escaped in the evening showed it 

 to be more watery than that collected early in 

 the morning. Dr. Hill found his theory con- 

 firmed that the rate of secretion of the cerebro- 

 spinal fluid when the cranio-vertebral cavity is- 

 opened depends directly upon the difference be- 

 tween the pressure in the cerebral cavities and 

 that of the atmosphere. At the same time it was. 

 shown that cerebral capillary pressure varies di- 

 rectly and absolutely with vena cava pressure. On 

 the other hand, cerebral capillary pressure varies 

 directly, but only proportionately, with aortic 

 pressure, for the peripheral resistance lies between 

 the aorta and the cavities. It follows from these 

 considerations that the easiest methods of rais- 

 ing the cerebral capillary pressure in man are by 

 compression of the abdomen, by the assumption 

 of *the horizontal posture and by straining or 

 forced respiratory effort with the glottis closed. 

 By all these methods the vena cava pressure is 

 considerably raised, and by the last method the 

 venous inlets into the thorax may be blocked 

 and the pressure in the cerebral capillaries raised 

 to something like aortic pressure. It is to be ob- 

 served that when the horizontal position is as- 

 sumed the rise of venous pressure may be com- 

 pensated by the fall of arterial pressure, which 

 normally occurs when the body is -at rest. This 

 is, no doubt, the case during sleep; also that 

 while by a forced expiratory effort the aortic pres- 

 sure is lowered, the total effect on capillary pres- 



